Lucy Gray

Introduction of the Poet

William Word Worth was born in 1770 at Cockermouth in Lake District. He was educated at Hawkshed Grammar School and then at St. John’s College, Cambridge. His early poems reflect his love for natural beauty, which he expressed in a unique and artificial style. Some of William’s poems are Lyrical Ballads, Poems in Two Volumes and An Evening Walk. William Words Worth is also known for his achievements as a critic.

Introduction of the Poem

Poem entitled Lucy Gray was written in 1799 and published in the second edition of “Lyrical Ballads.” It tells us the story of a simple tragedy in a cold bleak countryside. The poem has a steady and regular rhythm as a longer lines rhyme together as well as the shorter lines rhyme with each other. The language of the ballad is plain and simple.

Summary

Lucy Gray was a beautiful little girl who lived in a wild moor with her parents. Their house was located in the countryside far away from the cities. Nobody neighbored their house and Lucy lived without having any friends and playmates.

In Western countryside, it is said that if the moon is clearly seen during daylight, a storm appears in that area. One-day Lucy’s mother went town for shopping in the noon. After a while, he father realized that the moon can be seen and predicted a storm in few hours. He quickly told Lucy to take a lantern and go to the town to help her mother. Lucy obeyed her father and was on her way to the city.

Unfortunately, the storm appeared as soon as Lucy left for the town. It started to snow thickly that made it difficult for Lucy to see through. As she was wandering in the snowy atmosphere, she fell in a crevice and died. Her mother somehow returned home at night.

When the little girl did not come back, her parents went out in the snowy mountains shouting for their daughter, but they never found Lucy. On their way home, they found footprints on a wooden bridge in the middle. They concluded that perhaps Lucy Gray fell down and had died.

When we go through the hills, a solitary song is heard in the wind, which echoes in the mountains. Some people think that she died that day while some say she lives as a part of nature.